My wife and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this year. I am looking to take her someplace special this summer. My first idea was to go to Europe (neither of us have been there) but the dollar and terrorism issue have turned us against that. I am currently thinking of taking a trip to San Francisco, spending a day or two there, then renting a car and driving to the Napa Valley, staying overnight in a bed & breakfast, then driving down the coast to the Pebble Beach Area for a day or two, then back to Frisco and a flight back home. The last time I was in California was 1974 and my wife has never been there, so I need recommendations in places to stay and things to see. Also, I'm open to other suggestions of "special" places worthy of a 25th celebration. We are from Maryland, so New York, DC, etc. are out of the question.

Hi nittany - the trip you describe here (SF/Napa) sounds wonderful to me!! SF is a beautiful city - I haven't been to Napa but heard that's amazing too!

Have you thought about Hawaii (depending on the time you're planning on going you could do 1 or more islands)?

How about heading up to Vancouver and Victoria? Our dollar does very well there. The airfares are always pretty good. It is beautiful up there.

Hi nittany...wonder if you had a nice 25th celebration. We did our 50th last year...a week in a Colorado cabin with family and then a trip to Scandinavia.

Probably too late, but I do think San Francisco would be neat place including the side trips south and north. But tell me...what do you recommend to see in Maryland? We will be at Ocean City for an Elderhostel in August after visiting family in NY and MA.
Bill in Missouri
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Your S.F. ideas sound nice, but you might see about flying into San Jose and going to Pebble Beach first. Then drive into S.F. for awhile, then to Napa, and fly out of Oakland. Or: from Pebble Beach drive straight to Napa, then back to S.F. for your flight home. Otherwise, it sounds like your driving route might be inefficient. Just a thought.

Bermuda.
We went there for our honeymoon and our 25th anniversary, and are planning to go back for our 50th, in 2020.
It's an easy flight from the eastern US.
Last time westayed at an all-inclusinve called Harmony, which included all meals, drinks, passes to Elbow Beach Club (Harmony just has a pool), golf, and a scooter.

My husband and I just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in Vail, Colorado. We returned on Tuesday. It was a fantastic trip. We had never been to Colorado and it is spectacular! Everywhere we turned was a picture postcard. We stayed four nights at the Sonnenalp Resort (fabulous) in Vail. We would walk out our door and be in Vail Village - lots of shops and good restaurants. We made day trips to Glenwood Springs and Breckenridge. We saw the Dallas Symphony at the Gerald Ford Amphitheatre. We also spent two nights at the Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch - ten miles from the Sonnenalp. Beautiful (and very romantic) hotel. This hotel is a little more secluded than the Sonnenalp. It is great for a getaway.

We loved our trip to Vail and hope to return in the not too distant future. It was a perfect anniversary trip for us!

Happy 25th to you!

We're celebrating our 10th anniversary this fall, and we are going to New Orleans. We'll be staying at a timeshare property in the heart of the Quarter, and we are looking forward to all of the wonderful food, drink, and sights of New Orleans!

My vote is Maui. Beautiful place to go for your 25th anniversary!!

We did your trip last year--but in two separate trips. We did SF with wine country the first time, then went back to do SF and Monterey/Carmel the second time.
We spent an entire week in wine country and loved every minute of it. We really love wine so that was a lot of the fun for us. We stayed at the Vintner's Inn in Santa Rosa (Sonoma county) and really loved it. It would be a good choice for you too. Driving around the countryside is just wonderful--make sure you leave time for that.
In Monterey we stayed at Hotel Pacific and just loved it. Very romantic.... Although Monterey and Carmel were nice what we really enjoyed was the drive down to Big Sur taking the time to stop at all the parks and scenic vistas.
If I were you I would fly into SF and drive straight to the Vintner's Inn and spend 2 or 3 nights there, then drive down to the Hotel Pacific for 2 or 3 nights then just stay one night in SF before flying out, or staying longer if you have more time.
I love SF, but for romance I would stay longer elsewhere.
Hope that helps.